Rust & Basis Metal

Rust & Basis Metal

“Rust and Materials” is an experimental materials project focused on rust.
The prevention of rust is an age-old problem in manufacturing. Rust has brought down planes, slowed ships, disabled engines, ruined bridges, spread through reinforced concrete, jammed guns, broken washing machines, and reduced unnumbered bicycles to useless scrap. While constantly cast as a devil, a closer look at rust reveals a variety of startlingly beautiful patterns and complex mixtures of color.
We then felt that by controlling its outbreak, patterns of rust itself could be created. Iron, brass and copper were used as the main materials, and masking them to prevent rust from forming created graphical patterns. Juxtaposing the unaltered material with its rusted state creates an interesting visual contrast as well as a sense of the changes brought by time in living textures that cannot be rendered by paint. Further application could create new possibilities in architectural materials and products.